In the middle of the night, the Israeli airstrike hit the crowded tents nestled close together in the humanitarian zone of Al-Mawasi, south of Gaza, in the Khan Younes region. This coastal strip, a refuge from despair for Gaza families displaced by order of the Israeli army since the start of the war triggered by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, came under fire from several missiles or bombs fired by aircraft around midnight on Monday, September 9.
In the hours that followed, rescuers searched for survivors and attempted to free bodies still buried under the sand in the craters. Gaza’s Hamas-controlled civil defense estimated Tuesday morning that the number of people killed in the attacks was around 40, with around 60 wounded. And rescue teams were still searching for bodies early in the morning. “Entire families disappeared in the Al-Mawasi massacre in Khan Younes, under the sand”Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said in a press release.. In the videos filmed at night on the spot and posted on social media (the international media have not been allowed to travel independently to the enclave since the start of the war in Gaza eleven months ago), images of rescuers and the population appear. The search for bodies or survivors gives an idea of the consequences of the shooting.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it had carried out strikes against members described as “significant” Hamas, claiming they were in an operational command post and having taken “Numerous measures were taken prior to the attack to reduce the risk of hitting civilians, including the use of precision munitions, aerial surveillance and other means.” Hamas denied the presence of its fighters in the area.
without respite
The tactic of large-scale attacks to eliminate Hamas targets is one of those used by the Israeli army in Gaza. There are virtually no examples where such strikes succeed in avoiding the loss of life among the population. There were attacks on schools where Hamas, according to the Israeli army, installs its fighters or logistics and where displaced civilians from Gaza also find refuge. On July 13, an attack in the Khan Younes region targeted a building where, according to the Israeli army, Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s military leader and chief architect, was located, along with Yahya Sinouar (now head of Hamas). The attack occurred on October 7. Mohammed Deif was reportedly killed at a time when he had temporarily emerged from tunnels and underground bunkers. The attack is said to have also killed Rafa Salama, leader of the Hamas brigade in Khan Younes, considered one of the strongest, but it is also said to have killed nearly a hundred people.
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